Midlothian had an IT fault at the time of data submission and have since become aware (February 2018) that their rough sleeping figures were inflated in the publication. The number of applicants sleeping rough in the three months previous to application should be 20 and 10 for 2015/16 and 2016/17 respectively. The number of applicants sleeping rough the night before their application should be 10 and 5 for 2015/16 and 2016/17 respectively (for consistency, these figures are rounded to 5). These changes will be fully updated in the next annual (2017/18) 'Homelessness in Scotland' Publication.

Revised 27 October 2016 at 1700: In the text summary detailing the main reasons for homelessness (p.4), the response categories and corresponding figures have been updated. This is a minor revision - figures remain unchanged in the main body of the publication (p.12) and in Table 9b of the excel document.

Revised 23 February 2017 at 1700: An error was found in Tables 24, 25 and 26 which relate to outcomes. Tables 24 & 25 incorrectly included only households who had been assessed as unintentionally homeless, whereas they should have included both unintentionally homeless AND unintentionally threatened with homelessness. Table 26 incorrectly included those unintentionally threatened with homelessness. Figures have also been updated in the main body of the publication (p.22).

Homelessness in Scotland: Quarterly Update: 1 October to 31 December 2015

Revision: 11 April 2016

The following revision is minor and does not affect any of the figures in the main points of the publication: updated Table 2 of the Homelessness in Scotland - Quarterly Temporary Accommodation Reference tables to 31 December 2015.

Homelessness in Scotland: Quarterly Update: 1 July to 30 September 2015

Revisions: 12 January 2016

The following revisions are minor and do not affect any of the figures in the main points of the publication.

Table 7 in the publication has been revised due to data for Aberdeen City Council being incorrectly set to zero. No other figures in the table are affected - the total for Scotland remain correct. No headline figures in the publication are affected.

Table 2 in the Quarterly TA Reference Tables has been amended to correctly show the number of households with children in temporary accommodation at the end of each quarter. The figures in the publication are correct and unaffected by this change.

In Table 19 and Table 20 the prevention reasons incorrectly showed a sub-category of Landlord Issue – illegal eviction – private sector landlord. This has now been corrected to reflect that it shows all prevention reasons.

In Table 32 of the publication note 1 has now been changed from “All activities are counted” to “Activities are counted only once, even if the same activity is carried out at different levels”.

None of these changes affect any of the underlying data or key messages.

Revised 31 March 2015: Figures in Tables 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the Quarterly Temporary Accommodation Reference Tables were incorrect and have been revised. This did not affect the publication or the publication tables.

Housing Options (PREVENT1) Statistics in Scotland: April - September 2014

Revisions: 30 Jan 2015

In Figure 1, the numbers and proportions of activities for those who obtained alternative accommodation had been transposed. This has now been corrected.

North Lanarkshire Council have identified an error in their prevention activity codes. This has resulted in a large number of their activities being incorrectly recorded under securing the provision of aids and adaptations (see the section on Activities). The Council have now fixed this issue and updated figures will feature in the next publication.

None of these changes affect any of the underlying data, tables or key messages.

Revised 14 January 2015: The typo in paragraph 6.3 has been corrected. Temporary accommodation numbers is Highland increased by 202 households, comparing 30 September 2014 with one year ago. The column headers in Table 9 have also been corrected. None of the underlying data is affected.

Temporary Accommodation tables 6 to 10 had incorrectly labelled date header rows. These have now been changed to show the snapshot dates at the end of the quarter. This change affects none of the figures published in the bulletin.

Table 16 - Due to a coding error, data in the notification columns for April to June 2012 were incorrect. These have now been revised to show the correct notifications for each local authority.

Revised at 11:55 27 August 2013

Paragraphs 6.2 to 6.4 have been revised to reflect changes in data on 17 July 2013.

Revised at 17:00 17 July 2013

Perth and Kinross Council have advised us that there was an error in the HL2 return they submitted to us for the quarter ending 31st March 2013. The Council's accommodation database picked up a large number of private sector tenancies created through their Rent Bond Guarantee Scheme and pulled them into the temporary accommodation report in the ‘Other’ category. The publication has been revised to take account of the new data submitted.

Revised at 17:00 16 July 2013.

Due to accidental double entry of Fife Council's HL2 data, a number of tables, charts and related text in the annual publication have been revised. We would like to apologise to users of the statistics, and in particular, Fife Council for any inconvenience caused.

Paragraphs 3.6 – 3.15 of the publication have been amended to remove the quoted explanations provided by the three local authorities with the largest reductions in homelessness applications. On reflection, and after discussion with the UK Statistics Authority, we considered that it would be appropriate to remove the quotes provided by these councils as this might inadvertently have conveyed the impression that the commentary was biased towards those with the greatest reduction in homeless applications. We have also expanded the text in this section to provide a clearer explanation of why we assess that the reduction in homelessness applications is mainly due to the impact of a Scotland wide homelessness prevention initiative.

4 July 2013 - Table 2d has been revised. An error in the total row meant that the total row did not give the sum of the male and female rows. The total row in table 2d has now been corrected.

Guidance on the Use and Interpretation of Homelessness Statistics

Overview

There are two main sources of regular statistics on homelessness in Scotland, both of which draw on information from councils' administration of applications for homelessness assistance.

HL1 Return

Information provided in the HL1 system is the basis of all key statistics on trends in applications, assessments and outcomes; and of the analyses of the characteristics of homeless applicants, reasons for homelessness and outcomes for different groups. The HL1 system is the source of information used to track and report on the Scotland Performs Indicator on the proportion of homeless applications accorded priority status.

Following a period of consultation with local authorities, voluntary bodies and other interested parties, the revised HL1 data collection was introduced on 1 April 2007, taking into account recent changes in legislation and other information needs.

The HL1 return is stored in the Governments homelessness electronic system which gathers details on the progress of each application for assistance.

Information provided in the HL2 return is the basis of all statistics on numbers of households in temporary accommodation at the end of each quarter. In particular it provides information on the number of households in different types of temporary accommodation, separately for households with children or a household member pregnant and the number of dependent children in these households is also recorded. The HL2 also records the number of households in unsuitable accommodation (as defined in the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2004) and the number of breaches of the Order at the end of each quarter.

Revisions to HL2

The HL2 return was revised in April 2009 to include the number of notifications under section 11 of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003 by social landlords, private landlords and creditors to Local Authorities during the quarter. Further information is outlined below.

The HL2 return was amended in April 2009 to include the number of notifications (under section 11 of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003) from social landlords, private landlords and creditors to Local Authorities during the quarter. From 30 June 2009.

CURRENT: A revised HL2 return was made available to gather statistics on the number of households in non-permanent accommodation under new regulations. From 31 March 2011 onwards.

Interpreting Analyses from the HL1 electronic system

Stages of an application

In interpreting analyses from the HL1 system it is important to understand how we gather the information. It can take a significant amount of time for councils to resolve a homelessness application. Councils therefore provide updated information on each application at 3 key points in the application process. The table below gives a brief summary of the information gathered at each stage. The links in the table take you to the questions on the HL1 showing what information is available at that stage of the process.

Housing Outcome: Offers made to applicants: Final Rehousing outcome, accommodation occupied between application date and outcome.

How is this information then sent to the government?

Each quarter Local Authorities send electronic extracts containing all cases that have either applied during the quarter or moved through one of the above stages. This information, once received and validated means the database then has full information on:

All applications received up to the end of the quarter.

All assessments made up to the end of the quarter.

All cases closed up to the end of the quarter.

The reference tables

To reflect this flow of information as cases progress and to produce tables which are as complete as possible we mainly publish quarterly or annual analyses as follows:

Applications and characteristics of applicant households are on the basis of the number of applications in the period analysed.

Assessments and reasons for priority assessment are on the basis of all cases assessed during the period analysed.

Housing outcomes and information on accommodation occupied during the application are on the basis of all cases closed during the period.